It is known in practice that, when producing sausage products, for example, the sausage meat is fed by a filling machine via a filling tube of a clipping machine. In the clipping machine, the filling material is filled into a closed tubular-shaped casing material closed on one side by a first clip and the tubular-shaped casing material is closed off by placing a second clip. The closing tools thereby comprise pairs of a punch and a die each, between which the clip is deformed during closing until the minimum spacing of the closing tools is reached. After closing, the closing tools are moved back to the initial or open position thereof. The casing material of the sausage product thus produced is then cut off from the supply of the remaining casing material and the sausage product thus produced is transported out of the clipping machine.
The clips used thereby are provided either as stick clips or S-clips, wherein nearly U-shaped clips are disposed in a bar or stick form having the side surfaces thereof adjacent to each other, or as roll clips or R-clips, wherein U-shaped clips disposed one after the other form a clip line wound onto the reel. It is also known that S-clips are simply connected to each other in the region of the base of the clip so that said clips can be stored on rolls.
Because closure clips are predominantly made of metal, a filled reel and particularly the hub thereof must be able to securely support the high weight of the clip line stored thereon without thereby being damaged during transport or when used on a clipping machine. Such reels are also often intended to be used multiple times, and so must be able to withstand repeated loading, transport, and use.
A roll or reel for storing clips is known from DE utility model 20 2011 107 493 and comprises a hub having side walls disposed on the end faces of the hub. A retaining device is disposed on the reel hub for securing the beginning of the clip line.
A relatively simply constructed reel for storing and dispensing or feeding a clip line is also known from DE laid-open document 10 2005 033 437. The reel has a machine-readable label on one of the side walls thereof for identifying the stored material.
Said known reels exhibit simple construction, particularly a simple hub, but can also have a risk of damage.
EP patent 1 987 721 proposes a clip reel comprising a double-walled hub formed from a single hub wall and semicircular shells placed thereon, wherein a transponder is stored between the hub walls.
FR patent 2 777 630 discloses a winding sleeve that can comprise a relatively large axial length. In order to increase the rigidity of the winding sleeve, half shells are attached about the winding sleeve and supported on the winding sleeve by means of radial bars.
The double-wall design known from the prior art can increase the rigidity of the hub or the winding sleeve and thus reduce the risk of damage. Such a design is complex, however, and thus economically costly to manufacture.